


Along for the Ride

by Lady_of_Frost



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26405815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_of_Frost/pseuds/Lady_of_Frost
Summary: Bucky takes you on a peaceful drive on his motorcycle.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Along for the Ride

You finish showering and change into some comfy clothes and sigh to yourself.  
There’s a knock on your door and you walk over to it and open it and your eyebrows raise in surprise to see Bucky standing there.   
“Hey, what’s up?” you greet.  
“Hey, just thought I’d come by to see how you’re doing,” Bucky says.  
You stare at him confused, “Oh, I’m fine.”  
He studies you for a moment, “You mind if I come in?”  
“Not at all,” you say and step aside.  
He steps into your room and you shut the door behind him.  
Bucky sits down on the edge of your bed and you find a seat next to him.  
He folds his hands in front of him and stares sidelong at you, “You sure you’re okay?”  
“Yeah, Bucky, I’m fine,” you try to insist giving him a half-hearted smile, which he returns.  
He takes a breath, “You seemed kind of out of it in the gym earlier is all.”  
You absentmindedly rub your sore knuckles.  
You had wrapped them obviously, but overtime as your frustration grew your form had gotten sloppy as you punched the bag. To the point where you had called it quits and stormed out of the gym, attracting a few stares from your fellow teammates who were also training at the time, namely Bucky who had been lifting weights.   
Of course he had come to check on you, he was your friend.  
You exhale slowly, “I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I’m sure I’ll be fine, Bucky,” you say placing a hand on his thigh.  
His eyes dart down to your hand and then back up to your eyes.  
“Couldn’t sleep last night?” Bucky asks, “I heard you watching Pacific Rim again.”  
Your eyes widen as you stare at him with your mouth slightly agape.  
Damn his super hearing.  
“I don’t know it’s just anxiety I guess? I had some not so great dreams and couldn’t get back to sleep afterwards,” you explain.  
Bucky nods in understanding, because of course he does.  
He places his left hand over yours on his thigh, gently curling his metal fingers under yours, “You know you can always talk to me about it, right?” he asks with a small smile, “And I don’t care if you wake me up in the middle of the night.”  
“Well, it doesn’t exactly sound like you were sleeping either,” you joke.  
He smiles, “Someone was watching movies with giant monsters.”  
“True,” you agree.  
There’s a sudden twinkle in his eyes, “How about you get dressed and me and you go for a little ride, Hm?”  
“Like on your bike?” you ask.  
“Well, I don’t have a car,” Bucky laughs.  
“Do you even have a license, Barnes?” you tease.  
He smiles and shakes his head before patting your hand with his metal one, “Get ready and meet me in the garage in ten minutes.”  
“That wasn’t a yes,” you call after him as gets up and strides across your room.  
You change into some jeans and a sweater and then throw on your leather jacket and head downstairs to the garage. Bucky turns to look at you upon hearing you enter and he is a mouthwatering sight as usual. His hair is pulled back into a bun, with a couple strands slipping loose near his right eye. He’s wearing a navy blue, washed out Henley under his familiar leather jacket and dark jeans tucked into his boots. His eyes trail over you in your pastel mint sweater and jeans with your dark brown lace up boots.  
“You ready?” he asks straddling his motorcycle.  
You nod, “You still haven’t told me where you’re taking me.”  
He hands you a helmet which you put on as he puts his own on.  
”You’ll see,” Bucky chuckles, “Now hold on tight, Doll.”  
You seat yourself behind him on the motorcycle and wrap your arms around Bucky’s midsection as he starts the bike, the loud engine roaring to life on the vintage motorcycle. The garage door opens on a sensor as Bucky nears it and the two of you make your way down the road leading out of the compound. You notice that Bucky has his gloves on, which he only wears when he’s out in public so there must be a specific place he’s taking you.   
Once the compound starts to fade in the background, you look around you at all the trees and fields that encompass the surrounding area as the wind rushes past you. You usually only see all of this from the air as you fly in and out of the compound and it’s a nice change of pace to be at ground level for once.   
Normally, you never have a reason to be out here like this.  
You find yourself settling against Bucky’s back as you take in the peaceful scenery around you. Bucky’s right hand finds its way over your hands on his abdomen and he squeezes one of your hands gently before placing his hand back on the handlebars again.   
You smile to yourself and give him a squeeze back.  
You’ve hugged Bucky before although rare and highly treasured and you’ve fallen asleep next to him, but you always crave more. You always want as much as he’ll give you and it still feels like you can never get enough of the handsome super soldier. You doubt he’d feel the same, to him you’re just a friend, but you’re a trusted friend and Bucky has few of those so you still count yourself lucky.  
You snuggle into his back, using his body to help shield you from the wind.  
He drives for quite a while until the two of you come to a small town.   
He turns on a blinker and you lean with him as he turns left into a parking lot.   
He parks the motorcycle and you take off your helmet and stare up at the building, “Baskin Robbins?” you ask.  
Bucky pulls his own helmet off, “Hard to wear a frown when you’ve got ice cream.”  
You smile wide and let out a giggle.  
“See?” Bucky laughs, “And you haven’t even gotten your ice cream yet.”  
He takes your left hand in his and leads you inside. 

Once inside the man behind the counter looks up at you both as you enter and smiles and waves at Bucky, “Hey, James, Henry’s in the back if you want me to go let him know you’re here?”  
“Yeah, that’d be great,” Bucky says.  
The man nods and sets his broom against the wall and heads into the back room for a moment.   
You stare over at Bucky and raise a brow at him.  
He smiles and winks at you.  
You giggle and shake your head at him.  
Bucky continues to hold your hand even swinging it back and forth slightly.  
An older gentleman steps out of the back room followed by the man from earlier and the older man’s face lights up as he sees Bucky.  
“James! It’s so good to see you, how have you been?” the old man Henry asks stepping towards Bucky and extending his hand over the counter.  
Bucky sets the helmet down on the counter and outstretches his left hand and shakes Henry’s hand as the old man clasps both of his over Bucky’s.  
“I’ve been doing really good, Henry, how are you?” Bucky asks.  
“Oh, can’t complain,” Henry says.  
“Not unless you ask him about how the game went,” the cashier adds.  
Henry waves him off, “Now don’t get me started on that,” he says and looks back to Bucky, “I swear they had them on the ropes but then-Bah!”  
Bucky chuckles and you let out a small laugh as well.  
Henry then turns to look at you, “Now who is this beautiful, young lady?”  
You smile and introduce yourself.  
“Well, its nice to meet you,” Henry says smiling at you.  
“She’s had a bad day so I’m getting her some ice cream,” Bucky says squeezing your hand and picking his helmet back up with his left hand.  
You smile up at him.  
“Discounted ice cream ought to do the trick, you were right to bring her here young man,” Henry says.  
“Oh Henry, you don’t have to do that,” Bucky says.  
“Nonsense! I insist,” Henry says, “Besides it’s nice to finally meet this girl you keep talkin’ about,” Henry continues giving a wink to you.  
You smile and shake your head.  
Henry gives you both a discount on your ice cream despite Bucky’s protests and you pick out a waffle cone filled with cookie dough ice cream while Bucky chooses cookies and cream. The two of you find a booth and set your motorcycle helmets down on the table.  
“Well, I’ve got work still to do, but I’m glad you stopped by, James,” Henry says patting Bucky on the shoulder, “Besides, I don’t want to keep you from your lady friend,” Henry says waving to you.  
You wave back, “Bye.”  
“See you around, Henry,” Bucky says waving as well.  
Bucky is blushing adorably as you dig into your ice cream.  
You’re smiling as he finally turns his attention back to you, “Feeling better?”  
“Yeah, actually,” you say smiling wide.  
Bucky starts to eat his own ice cream and after a couple of minutes an older woman with her grown daughter walk in. The old lady stares over at Bucky and seems to recognize him as well.  
“Is that James?” she asks stepping towards your booth, “No, it can’t be this, young lady is way out of his league.”  
Bucky laughs, “Hey, Caroline.”  
And then to your surprise Bucky stands up and hugs her.  
The woman introduces herself to you next as Bucky sits back down.  
“James here is such a sweetheart,” she says to you, “And so Strong too, he helped change my son-in-law’s tire. He lifted the car straight up without a jack and one-handed too!”  
“Is that so?” you ask looking at Bucky.  
Who looks a little sheepish as he rubs the back of his head, “She’s exaggerating.”  
“Am not, James!” Caroline scolds.  
“I mean it’s not that impressive,” Bucky mutters, “I’ve done farm work before.”  
You chuckle, “Does he help out a lot around here?”  
“Oh yes! If there’s something that needs to be fixed I know I can always ask James, he comes and goes a lot, but seeing that he’s got someone like you to come home to, I can see why he never stays,” Caroline says now touching your arm.  
Bucky is silent as he is suddenly very invested in his ice cream.  
“How sweet of him,” you say taking his free hand which happens to be his metal one.  
Bucky smiles at you a small blush still on his cheeks.  
“Anyway I’ve talked your ear off enough, I’ll let you two get back to your date,” Caroline says returning to her daughter who is currently at the counter.  
You open your mouth to protest but you close it again and smile.  
You and Bucky finish your ice cream and head back outside to his motorcycle.  
“You know, it’s good that you’ve got friends your own age, Barnes,” you tease.  
Bucky laughs as he turns the engine on, “Doll…“ he begins.  
“Yes?” you ask resting your chin on his shoulder as you stare at him.  
Something in his face shifts as he meets your gaze.  
You stare deep into his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes.  
You want to kiss him.  
You’ve been dying to kiss him, but your nerves get the better of you and you tuck some of the loose strands of hair behind his left ear instead.  
“It’s getting dark, Bucky, we should probably head back,” you say softly.  
“Yeah,” he agrees quietly in a voice you only hear because you’re so close to him.  
You both continue to stare at one another for a moment longer.  
Then you lean back slowly and put on your helmet and Bucky does the same.

It’s dark as you both make your way back to the compound, the surrounding landscape quiet and empty. Bucky suddenly swerves to the side and you grip him tightly instinctively before he steers back on course again. But before you can ask what happened he’s slowing down and pulling over onto the side of the road.   
“What’s wrong?” you ask looking around as he turns the engine off.  
“I almost hit a turtle,” he says putting down the kickstand.  
“A turtle?” you ask.  
Bucky takes off his helmet and jogs back a ways down the road and you follow removing your own helmet. You turn on the flashlight on your phone and help him look for it.   
And sure enough there’s a turtle.  
Bucky spots it too and carefully scoops it up and takes it across the road.  
The turtle tucks itself into it’s shell as soon as Bucky touches it.  
You follow Bucky and watch out for any oncoming cars, while he places it in the grass. The turtle stays tucked in it’s shell for a moment, before risking a peek and then it starts hurriedly heading away from you both.   
You and Bucky both look at each other and laugh.  
Then you both return to the bike and head back to the compound.  
The garage door opens automatically as it reads the sensor installed in Bucky’s bike and he parks and you hop off and return the helmet.  
“Want me to walk you to your door?” he asks turning off the engine.  
You nod, “We’re both headed the same way anyways.”  
The building is fairly quiet, most people settling down for the night, though you do wave at the few faces you do come across.   
Bucky walks you all the way to your room when you stop and turn to him, “Hey, thanks for today, I really needed it.”  
“Hey, what are friends for?” Bucky asks smiling at you.  
His hair is a little messy from the helmet so hair hangs around both sides of his face now…and you really want to kiss him.  
Bucky slowly closes your door behind him, his eyes locked with yours.  
He then steps closer and bends down and kisses your forehead, “If you ever need me to do anything else just ask okay?”  
You smile and cup his face in your hands, “Thank you again, Bucky.”  
His eyes darken and he leans forwards again and gives a small peck to your cheek.  
And as he pulls back slowly his lips hover inches from your own and you feel his hot breath against your skin. Your eyes start to flutter closed as you lean forward slightly…and then you stop.  
You shouldn’t.  
Bucky is a friend.  
As much as you want him to be more.  
So instead you duck your head and slide your arms around his torso to hug him.  
His arms wrap around you in response and he holds you tight.  
You pull back and stare at him, “I meant to ask earlier if you go out there often?”  
Bucky smiles, “Only when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed.”  
You smile, “Well, I can see why, it’s the perfect dose of normalcy.”  
“Yeah,” he breathes staring at you.  
Your heart rate picks up as you stare deep into his warm gaze.  
“Hope you can get a better night’s sleep tonight,” Bucky says opening your door again, “Goodnight, Doll.”  
“Goodnight, Buck,” you say leaning on the doorframe as he leaves and you watch him walk down the hall to his room. After he disappears behind his bedroom door, you touch your cheek and remember the way his lips felt on your skin.


End file.
